1984 By George Orwell Privacy Issues

When George Orwell’s epic novel 1984 was published in 1949 it opened the public’s imagination to a future world where privacy and freedom had no meaning. The year 1984 has come and gone and we generally believe ourselves to still live in “The Land of the Free;” however, as we now move into the 21st Century changes brought about by recent advances in

Everyone has always wondered if people were ever watching them. Our technology today is capable to eavesdrop in on anyone’s conversations even if their phones are turned off. In the novel, “1984”, the party INGSOC uses telescreens to watch over the people and always know what they are up to. This denies the people’s rights and privileges to go about their business as they please. The technology we have today is almost exact to what big brother uses in George Orwell’s novel by taking over the public and private parts of our lives.

The strict surveillance of citizens as seen in Orwell’s novel, 1984, is similar to the government involvement in today’s smart devices due to their advanced technical abilities.

We share our feelings, exact locations, and activities so easily through means of social media. These types of posts generally give away too much personal information which can further result in safety issues. Privacy isn’t such a big deal for teenagers now. They don’t realize the implications that comes with posting all of their life details.. This is where privacy needs to be of greater demand to keep children’s lives and secrets safe.

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves”(Reagan). In the book, 1984, Winston recognizes the power the government has over the citizens of Oceania. The citizens lack privacy from the government. George Orwell warns society about a government with total control in 1984. Based on Dana Hawkin’s article, “Cheap Video Cameras Are Monitoring Our Every Move”, as well as Beech Etal’s, “The Other Side of the Great Firewall”, society may truly have something to fear in the form of surveillance and information manipulation.

In the novel 1984, George Orwell uses imagery and word choice to demonstrate how much people value their privacy. This is proven when the citizens learn that the Police Patrol and the government are spying on them in their homes without them knowing. George Orwell states that he knows there is someone snooping in his windows all the time. Night or day, it does not matter. He knows for a fact they are watching his every move. This goes to show that the Police Patrol and government have no boundaries and do not respect their citizens privacy in any way. They are trying to catch them doing anything they are not supposed to be doing. Everybody should feel safe when they are in their home. No one wants to always feel like someone is constantly

In 1984 George Orwell describes how no matter where you go in Oceania there is

Orwell portrayed privacy in 1984 by using “telescreens and thought police,” as forms of surveillance over the population. Surveillance was a strategy used to enforce Oceana’s laws against thought crimes, so that the Party would always be one-step ahead of the people. Today Americans have a similar form of systematic monitoring through technology, which in contrast to Oceana; have increased the standard of living. The government invades America’s privacy right under its nose, through digital entry points that are used as accommodations to American lives. Privacy will result in the loss of freedom, because the people no longer decide what information about their lives are revealed.

In 1984 George Orwell describes how no matter where you go in Oceania there is

The 1984 quote, “Big Brother is Watching You” (Orwell 2) is becoming far too real for most while in the dawn of technology. Small handheld devices carried by millions with the ability to keep track of location and can communicate with others, yet one can only imagine the darker side of a device meant to bring ease of life to many. The telescreen in 1984 shows how a device advertised as an entertainment product could be turned against the public. The telescreen was bought by proles, who could afford one, for the entertainment of a television. The telescreen allowed people to view certain media channels. In the same way, smartphones are being bought by millions of people for the entertainment value and connectivity to the cyber world. The government is hard at work cracking open cellphones, such as Android, to view what the owners are using the phones for. There is a backdoor in each phone that allows the government to pull information out of the phone. The information consists of phone call records, emails, text messages, and internet history. The government agency, National Security Agency, was

The books 1984  by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are both connected in the way society controls people. Both these books illustrate control over their citizens through government intervention. People are constantly being watched either by telescreens or neighbors in 1984 while there is no privacy in Brave New World at all. In 1984, children are in a league of youth spies and send people to jail because they look suspicious. Brave New World’s children are created to be controlled for the sake of society. Sex is bad in 1984  because it promotes the idea of pleasure or selfish needs while Brave New World embraces sex to promote happiness. 1984  and Brave New World both control the people of society through privacy, sex, and children.

Our technology is way more advanced than the technology described in the novel 1984 which isn’t necessarily a good thing. We have cameras everywhere including on the streets and in our pockets. In fact, even new game consoles have cameras and microphones that remain on even when the console itself is off. “It's able to identify individuals based on face and body recognition, works in the dark, records audio and is constantly connected to the Internet and 300,000 Microsoft servers” (Xbox One Features…). That’s just one of the many examples of how we are currently being monitored. Another would be our smart phones. There isn’t much that our phones aren’t capable of doing and that includes tracking where we go, what we buy, and what we do. “ Your phone even automatically labels your assumed home and work addresses based on the amount of time you spend in each location” (Hidden Iphone Feature Tracks…). Our technology may come in slightly different forms than that of Big Brother, but it is still very similar in its purpose, to watch us. The way in which we differ is who and how we use it. For instance, major companies like to purchase the information that has been gathered from our phone in order to provide goods and services that are most relevant to us, the consumer. “Jeff Weber, AT&T Inc.'s president of content and advertising sales, says his company is studying ways to sell and analyze customer data for advertisers…” (Phone Firms Sell Data…). In the world of Big Brother, the government uses this information to determine whether a person is guilty of thoughtcrime or not while our government only uses our information to help prevent terrorism resulting from the terrorist attack on

Imagine living in a world where you could not make your own choices, or be your own person. In the novel 1984, this is exactly what happened. In a place called Oceania where there is no such thing as privacy and personal freedom (Roelofs), the main character Winston Smith, is living a strict life under the demanding party known as Big Brother. Winston decides that he wants his life back to normal and tries to rebel against the Party. Meanwhile, he is thought to be a lunatic because he is living his life how a normal person would, but everyone else is now living under what is thought to be a utopia society. Throughout the book Winston strongly disagrees with the fact that every second he is being keep under surveillance. Though at some points he believes he is being discrete, in reality someone is always watching. In 1984, George Orwell depicts the lack of privacy and loss of individualism which affects the characters and the society as a whole.

A world beyond what George Orwell could imagine has been created in modern society through the use of not only government surveillance, but also corporate and consumer spying where users are often unaware of spying.. 1984 is set in a neo-communist society where the government controls production of goods and spies on its citizens in order to maintain power. In the modern era, surveillance takes a different form. Often the methods for spying on citizens in the US do not involve a direct line from the NSA to the citizen’s home, it usually takes a detour through a commercial setting. By partnering with major companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon, government surveillance programs are able to collect far more information than could be gained by simply tapping telephone lines. This is more disturbing since many companies including Verizon, AT&T, Apple, and Amazon do not require a warrant to supply information to investigators, and do not notify users of data requests.

Social Media is a current way in which people are using to interact with one another daily. Since the launch of various Social Networking Sites (SNS) its been a huge attraction in a new way to share information with others and correspond with interests of your choice in many different forms. Although social media sites allow users to share information with friends and other sites on the internet, many people are unaware of how their privacy is getting out. Now that the expansion of global connection through these social media networking sites are so highly present in todays society, giving us easy access to information, the lack of one's privacy is being diminished. Everyday peoples privacy rights are